Wednesday, March 28, 2007

When I saw this month’s “Waiter There’s Something In My… Easter Basket”, hosted by Johanna the Passionate Cook I knew I had to participate – I thought of making a special chocolate egg like the ones I made last year. The egg shells were filled with the most delicious fillings – brigadeiro, beijinho, creamy truffles, dulce de leche, Nutella…Unfortunately, with the hot weather we’ve been having here lately – 32ºC – it’s almost impossible to work with chocolate.I tried making a chocolate egg on the weekend but it was a nightmare. Too hot. Last night I decided to try again with something smaller – a chocolate heart.It wasn’t perfect but at least I could take a couple of photos to show the idea of filled Easter chocolate eggs.

For the following amounts I used an 8cm plastic heart shaped mold – you may adjust the ingredients to make larger hearts or eggs. As I mentioned above, you can use many kinds of fillings – just be careful not to use something too runny, otherwise it will be hard to encase it and cover it with chocolate to seal the egg.

Chocolate heart filled with beijinho

200g chocolate – choose the one you love: milk, bittersweet, semisweet or white

Make the filling: mix the condensed milk, coconut and butter in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly – when the bottom of the pan starts to show, remove from heat, pour in a greased plate, set aside to cool. Don’t use it unless it’s completely cool.

Chop the chocolate and place in a glass bowl. Melt it either using the double-boiler process or the microwave.You have to temper the chocolate – it has to be done properly, otherwise your coating won’t dry correctly and won’t be glossy and resistant to temperature changes. Click here to learn how to temper chocolate correctly.The other way to temper chocolate is to pour it over a piece of granite and, using a plastic or metal spatula, spread the chocolate over the stone making continuous movements – the granite will cool down the chocolate very quickly. Dip the end of a toothpick in the chocolate and put it against your lip – if it feels cold, it’s ready to mold. Using the same spatula, quickly remove the chocolate from the granite back into the bowl. Start molding it.That’s the way I make it because I have a granite piece that’s used ONLY for this. Otherwise, chocolate will be contaminated and will never be in perfect conditions.Spread chocolate with a brush or spoon on the molds to form the first layer. Refrigerate until chocolate sets, making sure that mold cavity is turned upwards. Repeat the procedure twice - each layer must be thin. Remove from refrigerator when chocolate is set.To fill each half of the heart use the back of a spoon to spread filling evenly (the chocolate layers must be very hard when applying filling). Leave 1 cm at the edges without filling for better adherence of the last chocolate layer. Refrigerate again for 5 minutes.Spread chocolate all over the filling until thoroughly covered. Scrape mold edge with a spatula to eliminate chocolate excess. Refrigerate again until chocolate hardens – it will loose from the mold. Never “force” this step and never touch the mold – the heat of your hands will stain the chocolate. Always hold the molds by their edges.

Click here to see step-by-step photos of how to make different kinds of chocolate eggs.

Unmold the chocolate heart on a piece of waxed paper and leave it for 4 hours before wrapping.Wrap it with candy foil – never use regular foil because it may increase the temperature around the chocolate and cause it to melt.Place the chocolate in beautiful paper boxes, wrap it in cellophane... Use your imagination todecorate it!

Makes one 420g chocolate heart (approx.), without candies inside*

* to make all your chocolate Easter eggs with the same weight, you must consider the following proportion: 80% of the total weight of the egg is formed by both shells; 20% is formed by the candies inside the eggs. For example: in a 500g egg, 400g are shells (200g each) and 100g are candies.To make each shell the proper weight, use a precise kitchen scale.

To you make chocolate eggs with filled shells use a mold with less capacity than the weight you are aiming. For example: to make a 750g filled egg, use a 500g mold.Be careful with the amount of filling you use, otherwise there won’t be any space inside the egg to place the candies.

Pat, I always look forward to seeing your gorgeous chocolate creations! They never fail to impress me :DOne question though... making the heart/egg involve waiting time (to be refrigerated before next step), what happen to the big bowl of chocolate, will they turn harden and you have to temper it again? *hug*

I can't believe you made those! When I first say the photo I thought someone had given them to you as a gift, but now that I realize they're homemade - wow. I have never made anything that complicated with chocolate. :)

Freya, I wish I could send you many so you could try all the different fillings, dear!

Terry, you are so adorable - thank you! Not fair, since I've got my eye on Marion's cake and on your spiced cookies. :)

Brilynn, it's not hard when the weather is cool - or when you have air conditioning at home!

Helene, I love making chocolate, too! Thank you for the encouragement!

Lis, you're just so sweet!xx

Ellie, you've done so many wonderful things that chocolate is going to be a piece of cake for you!

Lydia, go ahead - so make sure he doesn't eat all the filling before making the hearts. Yes, beijinho is that delicious!

Candy, thanks, sweetie!xoxo

Gattina, what a great question!!To avoid having problems like that, I always melt small amounts of chocolate. Never too much, otherwise the temperature won't be correct.If it happens, you can place that bowl over the pan with gently simmering water you used to melt the chocolate in the first place for 10-15 seconds only. Then you get a spoon and mix the chocolate well and use it.xoxo

Linda, hey, so you have a Brazilian friend! How nice! Easter eggs with filled shells are something sort of recent, maybe that's why she doesn't know about it.

Veron, thank you! I still want to make 1 or 2 more posts before Easter about other kinds of chocolate we have here.

Valentina, you can be sure if you lived here, or if they shipped well, I'd make a big one especially for you!

Hi, Judy, thank you - you're very generous!

Tanna, you're so sweet - I know you'd take good care of it. :D

Kristen, I'd exchange one of this for those cakes you bake. Seriously. ;)

Toni, obrigada, querida! Beijos!

Gilly, I think now you have the perfect weather to create amazing thinks with chocolate in your delicious kitchen!

Ari, you've made many other "complicated" and delicious things, my friend!

Sher, you are so kind, thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

Peabody, thanks!!

Eliza, it's my first heart - but last year I made almost 50 chocolate eggs! It was crazy!

Tina, you know you are always an inspiration. I'm so glad you liked this.And I'm flattered to be part of this amazing group!